“Once you increase the threshold, developers would only build residential properties priced from RM1mil and above, and where do we go from here?” he said on Monday.

Khaled was speaking at a press conference at the ground-breaking ceremony of the D’Pristine@Medini mixed development project here by B&G Capital Resources Bhd.

The project, on a 3.28ha site with a gross development value of RM1.5bil, comprises a 32-storey office block, a four-star hotel with 300 rooms, a three-storey retail centre and two SoFo (small office, flexible office) blocks of 36 and 37 storeys each.

Khaled said Johor would continue to welcome foreign property buyers, but the state would make sure that locals were not be deprived from owning houses.

He said that was why the state government emphasised on developers building affordable homes for Johoreans, but at the same time, did not stop them from building high-end properties.

“If you (locals) as well as foreigners have the means and resources to buy high-end properties, then buy them, but we also have to look at the welfare of the rakyat,” said Khaled.

He said 28,000 units of affordable houses priced below RM150,000 each would be built in Johor within the next five years, with 20,000 units in Iskandar by state-linked companies and private developers.

Similarly, Khaled said foreigners would no longer be allowed to buy properties in the secondary market from locals, but that they could buy them from foreign owners.

“Foreigners can also no longer buy agricultural land, as they would convert the status of the land for non-agricultural use and bumiputra land,” he said.